


Sometimes the Lesson Is...

by ceceliatarleton



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Destiny Island Trio (Kingdom Hearts), F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Post Re:Mind, Post-Canon, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Skuld Is Subject X (Kingdom Hearts)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:49:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23011270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceceliatarleton/pseuds/ceceliatarleton
Summary: Losing another year of life with everyone he loves was unthinkable. Three and a half years is the cost, his part of the cost at least, in reality. Sora knows he got off lightly even so, and he should be grateful. He is grateful. He will kiss the ground every day he’s allowed to walk in the same realm as his friends. He’s also bitter. He’s missed so much. He wouldn’t have wanted the worlds to stop turning while he was gone of course, and he’s glad those he’s loved have made lives for themselves. He doesn’t doubt he has a place in each of them. He just needs to find what they are and face that there’s a chance they may not always be the roles he imagined playing for years.  Life and love are complicated and growing up is hard to do.Post KH3.Ensemble friendship and adventure and not just the romantic angst (with eventual happy ending?)  the summary promises.Renamed from Hearts Re:United
Relationships: Aqua & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Aqua/Terra (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi & Riku & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), More to be added - Relationship, Riku & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Sora & Yozora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

The light was blinding, so bright it could be felt as well as seen, not as heat, but in a way that left you burning still and unprepared to articulate the feeling other than the heart of light looking on and judging. It was the light of the first time Sora had looked through the door to Kingdom Hearts but he found himself less able to meet it this time, whether it be because it was a different light or because of something in the journey he and his heart had taken over the past few years, he could neither say nor worry about at the moment when he was preoccupied with holding his intestines in and praying the curaga would take or the gods that were judging him and his companions would take a moment to heal them as well. Closing his eyes tightly and throwing his free arm over them did nothing to dull the light. The horizon behind his eyelids burned as searingly white dotted with dark spots, the fault of human eyes and not the light itself, crawling amoeba-like through the vibrant field, lurking like heartless from his past life. Sora only felt a dull burn of nostalgia. He typically felt far more at far more tenuous reminders of the past, but, well there was still the guts thing, how suddenly heavy the keyblade in his hand was, how cold he was,and how lightheaded--and those were only the physical concerns and his concerns, which, as ever, were the last concerns on Sora’s mind. That much hadn’t changed.

“You have braved much to get here,” a voice reverberated out of the light and Sora found himself on hands and knees without remembering dropping and without his keyblade. His hands left bloody prints on the ground, which was now stark white in a way that tugged at other long ago and buried memories. One, two...more drops of additional crimson fell and landed between the hand impressions, slipping from Sora’s lips as he breathed shallowly, but his abdomen was magically sealing and the chill in his bones was fading.

The voice rang again and Sora’s forehead touched the ground. He didn’t want it to. He respected all worlds’ custom and cultures and this one’s in particular after all the time he’d spent there, but harsh gods who played destructive, cruel cosmic games deserved no reverence. Still the light and the voice forced him prostrate. “For your service not just to this land but to all worlds this side of the tear and for your sacrifice, you may ask one favor, Commander.” The voice did not add Sora’s name. He would have given and may still have given his life for the same people and ideals Yozora did--those that weren’t even his people, not originally at least--but his was not the sacrifice and destiny that mattered that day. Only one man out of those bleeding on the ground and those that hadn’t made it that far did.

“Stella,”Sora the rasp that was all his throat could manage both a satisfied, happy exhale for his friend, his commander, so close to his happy ending and an entreaty for Yozora to allow himself some happiness and remember what had struggled for more than one lifetime for.

“Sora.” There was a sob in the word that tore itself from the commander’s throat. 

Sora forced his head up to look at Yozora, eyes widening, begging because he knew his friend wasn’t just asking for an opinion or permission. Yozora’s skin hung loose on his bones and his red eye was now milky white. This was his last chance;they had discussed it around the fire last night. Drulo had been the first to give it voice, but the whole group had all known. “Please.” It wasn’t just Stella and his own wellbeing Yozora was sacrificing if he wasted his boon on Sora. This couldn’t happen. 

Sora saw only love and pride reflected in Yozora’s good eye. “It’s alright.” A thousand more warm words washed into those two. The commander’s voice remained thick but not all tears were solely sad. “Send Sora back to his world.” 

It was the deepest desire of Sora’s heart, but it wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

“No!” Sora screamed desperately, hand scrabbling against the ground to make a fist.

He was still screaming when skies so blue they cut him to his soul flooded into existence around him and his hand clenched on and uprooted several strands of green grass. The base of a white pillar with ivy curling around it filled part of his vision, but Sora couldn’t bring himself to look any further or speculate on where he was right away--though the base of Olympus was a stray thought . He remained on the ground, allowing bitter- distraught-- grieving-- thankful-- relieved-- disbelieving tears to flood him, overwhelmed by conflicting emotion. There was no pain or even stiffness in his body anymore though dried and drying blood remained caked on his clothes, skin, and in the short hairs of three days worth of beard stubble. The only pain and weight was in his heart.

“Sora?” The voice quavering between hope and mistrust was feminine, familiar instantly, burned into the keyblade hero’s mind and memory even though he had only known her a brief time. Sora wasn’t ready to move, but his body moved on autopilot anyway. He didn’t just stand, he airslid a few inches above the ground, launching himself into the arms of the stunned newcomer.

“Aqua,” he cried and continued to cry wordlessly like a baby into the crook of the neck of the woman he knew through story still more than he knew through interaction, his pride or embarrassment not a consideration, back slightly hunched to make the position work as he was taller than she was now.. “You’re real.”

Aqua shushed him gently and petted his hair with one hand, hugging him back so tightly it was possessive as well as protective even with only one arm fully involved and the other just resting against his back while her fingers stroked, separating blood clotted hair, trembling slightly--in the worlds here there wasn’t as much blood, she had to be shocked, Sora considered dully. “I’m real,” the assurance was strong. She understood--not everything, both of them knew--but more than anyone else could. He thought it would stop after a moment, that he would quickly compose himself and start in on the hundreds of questions he had. Aqua didn’t. She was patient and more than that, she was crying freely herself for the man so many had been searching for and waiting to see again for so long. They sunk together to sit on the ground, still clinging.

When he had imagined it, he hadn’t imagined this one as such an emotional reunion. He should have felt weak. Aqua hadn’t gone on so long when she’d been pulled from the realm of darkness. There was no weakness though in having deep feelings and in friends reunited. Plus, he felt he was getting it out now so he could put on a better face for those he would have to hold while they cried or those who couldn’t see him cry to begin with. And it wasn’t all himself he cried for. He could only trust in Yozora that he would find a way to save his realm, and he may never know the end of that story he’d been a part of for three years.

The sobs tapered off in their own time--which Aqua would tell Sora later was hardly any time at all really--Sora refocusing after the purge of excess emotion when he realized he may be larger than Aqua in most areas, but she had grown in size and not just age too while he had been gone. Sora rested a hand on the rounding of the blue haired Keyblade Master’s stomach that should have been the first thing he noticed while hugging her, even while keeping the other still around her back. “You’re pregnant!” It was an accusation, but the most joyful of ones, wide grin shaking slightly from post-cry hiccups not seeming like mood whiplash despite what it should be. He felt a surge of guilt immediately for not asking permission before touching her belly and for touching it with a blood soaked hand--though they had been and were still entwined that touch was different. He jerked his hand away like he’d been burned and colored like he was still an awkward fifteen. 

Aqua laughed in response, nodded, grabbed his wrist and put his hand back on her stomach. “Everyone else does it,” she said without the exasperation that would have been deserved. “And he’s kicking right now. He wants to say hi too. He knows we missed you. He’s heard Terra, Ventus, and I...all of us, talk about you every day.”

It was a lot to take in, already, tipping to overwhelming as it opened a thousand lines of thought all assaulting Sora at once of what other huge things in other people’s lives he could have missed, He thought he had prepared himself, but he realized he hadn’t and still couldn’t until he saw them. “Every day?” He latched onto the words he was repeating like a life preserver, giving them the proper reverence. He didn’t ask who ‘all of us’ meant, though his heart sketched in more and more players. They still thought of him every day. They were connected, and it didn’t matter what he found had changed when that hadn’t. He shouldn’t be scared of what he may have missed. It was time to get excited about catching up.

“Every single day,” Aqua repeated, ruffling his hair and flashing a smile that crinkled her eyes. If it faded fast into something stoic and resolved, that was nothing more or less than what Sora’s few memories of Aqua told him she always acted like, serious Master, sobered by experiences and duty, bright mood easy to trigger but only shown in quick, tentative flashes. “We’ll spread the word. Not everyone will be able to head back right away, those that can’t use portals won’t be able to get here as quickly, but everyone should know. Let me know if you want to limit visitors and Terra and I will make sure they stagger. We’ll enlist King Mickey and Yensid to enforce.” She looked at him probingly, near to asking the  _ What happened and where have you been? _ she had refrained from so far, and Sora met her gaze. 

“I want to see everyone. The other guardians, Donald, Goofy, Roxas, Xion, Cid, Leon,...” a litany of names started tumbling forth but was cut off quickly as Aqua nodded, not even needing the names once he started.

“Kairi is here already.” Aqua struggled to her feet, less graceful than Sora remembered and he sprang to standing and offered a hand while she was still only halfway up, the supernaturally fast assisting the slowed by pregnancy, causing a curious look from the blue-haired woman who was poised to make some quip about how Sora had always had fast reflexes but the last time the two of them had been face to face you could still track most of his movements with the human eye. 

“Kairi,” Sora’s face lit like a worshipper given revelation.

“She’s teaching a class.” 

Until that moment, Sora still hadn’t focused much on his surroundings, just accepting Aqua was with him and not needing more. He didn’t take in much now-- a path, the path to Kairi, the path to follow without any delay--but enough that his mind supplied that they were standing in The Land of Departure and he was given context. The Land of Departure was a home base for the guardians of light who were still protecting the worlds. There were new keyblade apprentices found and being taught. Kairi was sharing her light and teaching a class. It made the heart full and happy overwhelmed again, but Sora’s mind narrowed and distilled back to one word, one thought. Kairi.

He may have said her name aloud again. Aqua may have reached for his arm to halt him for a moment and missed because he was already moving.

“Wait! I need to tell you…”

Aqua’s protest didn’t reach Sora’s ears as he ran straight up the rock wall to the castle at the top of the hill instead of up the path, taking shortest route. 

  
  


The reunion that Yozora had given up his own love and who knew what else for couldn’t wait. Whatever Aqua had to say surely could.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Absolutely sorry this got forgotten about so long.Hopefully that doesn't happen again. I would use the excuse of a lot else going on in life, but, as some may know, I've started a few other projects in that time. Not as much happens in this chapter as I intended, but when it was over 4000 words just to get to Kairi and Sora having a chance to talk alone, I thought I'd better save their talk for another chapter since they have a lot of catching up to do and I could see that going on long enough that if I hadn’t split this we’d have really uneven chapter lengths.

Dreaming of being reunited with his friends nightly, Sora had conjured hundreds of vivid scenarios. Running through empty halls of a castle like he was now, hearing voices but never seeing a familiar face, featured heavily on the nightmare side, which was easy enough to analyze at least five different possible explanations for, but always set his heart racing the same. That his feet seemed to already know the way to the indoor training hall he knew he’d not seen on his previous brief visit to Ventus’s home, taking him the shortest route after he found the outside training areas and throne room empty, did nothing to forestall Sora’s irrationally rising nerves, despite his meeting with Aqua not fitting with his usual imaginings enough to give the impression of fiction.

When he spotted Kairi at the far end of the training hall , Sora lost any misgivings this was a lucid dream and he’d soon find himself released from a crystal, falling through the endless horizon of the final world, or waking in a tent next to Drulo. The heart knew, even from a glance at a form slightly distorted from the semi-translucent, blue-tinged floor to ceiling barrier buzzing with magic that cut the room in two (as final obstacles went it barely counted, though the common sense that many who knew him best would pretend to act surprised that Sora possessed stopped him from summoning his keyblade to hack it apart, drawing the connection to a protection to stop someone from wandering in, not the wall of a trap keeping Kairi and the other figures Sora could see around her trapped inside).

There was no mistaking Kairi for him, she shone brighter than the light of any kingdom or gods.

Her hair was longer once more, feathered around a face that was harsher than he remembered, fierce in a way he didn’t recall seeing even in battle in the set of her jaw and intensity of eyes that were focused on two women grappling in the middle of the room, though her posture was relaxed. He wasn’t used to seeing her in anything but a dress or skirt either, maybe a skort at her most practical. Even during long ago days of navigating obstacles courses on play island she had always been what her adoptive mother, the mayor, had called a little lady, but the dark, high necked jumpsuit she wore now suited her, no nonsense but flattering, pale panels on the sides (probably pink, Sora thought, though everything looked at through the barrier had a blue glaze) and stripes down the leg stopping Sora’s mind from drawing too many unpleasant associations with Vanitas or Riku taunting him in Hollow Bastion. If she had gained even an inch of height it was due to the thick boots she was wearing; she’d be small in his arms now with the height he’d gained with last year’s overdue, though probably final, growth spurt.

“Ninety seconds ladies, or nobody gets the point,” Kairi yelled, still not looking at him. “I’d stop playing around, princesses.”

Sora’s instinct was to yell for her, though he found his mouth sealed and feet rooted. Maybe it was a vision after all if not a dream, a new punishment for trying to cheat the laws of the universe that he could see her but not get to her. Maybe he was just scared.

An unfamiliar dark haired, dark skinned woman in a lighter colored suit too similar to Kairi’s to be a coincidence standing next to Kairi on the sidelines noticed him, waved, then whispered something to Kairi who gave a response he couldn’t hear, and didn’t so much as glance at him, single focused.

Sora waved back somewhat awkwardly at the friendly stranger who was already looking away, and let his attention shift to what Kairi was so transfixed on.

Only one combatant could be seen now, a teenage girl maybe a year or two younger than Sora himself with a wild mane of fiery hair to rival Lea’s that refused to be dulled by the blue barrier haloing around her head . She was dressed in the body hugging jumpsuit that seemed like a uniform by this point, broken up by a thick belt with halters bulging full but with no scabbard or handle sticking out, speaking to something short and rounded being stuffed in the pouches. Grenade came to Sora's mind before potion bottle entered as the more likely option, disturbing him slightly. The redhead had a knife clutched in each hand and her chin was lifted, eyes tracking something on the ceiling.

Before Sora finished taking her in and followed her gaze, a torrent of water, concentrated into a solid looking, serpentine wave surged more than fell from the ceiling and twisted around the girl before looping back toward the roof in defiance of gravity. The redhead twisted and struggled, yelling expressively, though the words were as unintelligible as Donald on a bad day, she struck at the water ineffectually with her knives, pausing what Sora was sure was her cursing the water out to shout an equally ineffectual but more practical in concept, "Fire!" that didn't so much as cause a dent and puff of steam out of the water arm.

Sora glanced back at Kairi and the friendly stranger. He seemed to be the only one truly feeling tension escalate to anxiety as the water closed over the redhead’s face, leaving her looking panicked, and she was lifted to a level where injury would be risked if she did break free if she hadn't practiced arts like gliding or aerial acrobatics. The friendly stranger was rolling her eyes and Kairi was watching with crossed arms and a frown that read more frustration and disappointment than worry.

Sora knew deep inside both head and heart that if there was a need for someone to step in, Kairi would, but he was a hair away from losing the battle to interfere anyway when the redhead, fully encased in water, tapped the fingers of her right hand twice against her left shoulder and the water immediately retreated from her head allowing her to breathe and lowered her swiftly but gently to the ground, setting her on her feet as another girl wearing a smug smile and no sign of laboring under the attempt to carry off an intense magical feat who had evidently been surfing atop the water snake drifted to the ground a few feet away from her.

"Final point! Match to me!" Water Girl crowed with an enthusiasm that would have put the great Peter Pan to shame.

"Not the least bit feckin' fair with yer..." the redhead was shouting at the same time, fierce as soon as she was back on the ground, stalking toward the other combatant even though it was clear that a truce was supposed to be drawn, shaking with poorly contained rage and casting droplets of water all over the floor. Redhead only made it a step before the blue barrier vanished from its spot near the door with a wave of Kairi’s arm and reformed between the two girls who had been sparring.

"Point doesn't count," Kairi decreed, "Purpose of today's exercises to see how your close-quarter work was progressing, and the set rules were no magic. We all know your command of water is impressive Moana," her voice was dry in the understatement. The memories Sora had played over and over and clung to didn't include dry even though he was sure he'd heard the tone before. " But not everyone has the same talents. We’ll leave today at a draw. The ultimate goal on any day is to keep a clear head. That is what will get you out of trouble if you didn’t have your element to fall back on as a crutch, Moana, or-- I’m sorry Merida-- help you turn the tide when you’re outmatched...and neither of you exhibited clear thinking today. Now go change. Your rides back home should be here any minute.” A new layer of self-confidence, poise, and authority was the next wave of slightly less than familiar on his childhood friend qualities Kairi displayed and Sora continued to marvel.

“Van distracted me,” the redhead apparently named Merida protested, rather nonsensically in Sora’s opinion since there were no windows in the room and no paved roads around the secluded castle even if the Land of Departure had automobiles he hadn’t seen.

The other girl, Moana, was lobbying her own protests, but Sora stopped listening because Kairi was finally, finally looking at him and with all the time bending power of love reunited he was able to trace each twitch of expression as instant recognition lit her eyes and a joyful wonderment replaced the dismissive annoyance she had first levied in the direction Merida had gestured. Her lips started to form the S of his name and he was galvanized as if he had downed an elixir, paralysis gone in a flash.

She was in his arms before she got to the second syllable, a combination of her diving and him running.

The tears were silent this time from both parties and mixed with laughter as buoyant and carefree as island memories as she clung to his neck and buried her head in the crook of his shoulder and he lifted her by his grip around her waist and spun her around. He set her down after two rotations, her feet on top of his, overlapping, still holding her as close as he could. Empires could rise and fall before he’d want to let her go.

I waited for so long…”

“Every moment was spent fighting to come back to you…”

“...Did everything I could."

They kept overlapping each other, interrupting and barely bothering with full sentences.

Kairi held him more tightly again, and he held her back as she buried her face in his chest and he felt her sniff, breathing him in deeply, obviously drawing in something more than the death and sweat he thought he smelled of and trying to chase it. "They thought that the key to finding you might be in my heart or Riku's dreams. I searched and searched. I felt so useless, not being able to find you. Namine never rested. I think she wallpapered the entire castle in Radiant Garden with pictures she hoped were prophetic or messages from you. No lead ever panned out."

"It's going to be okay now," was the only assurance he could give her, "I'm never leaving again." He'd stick to it if he was called out. He could leave saving the world to Riku and others.

"if you do, I'll follow you. I swear this time I'll find a way to follow you."

Kairi's students were chattering to each other. Sora could hear his own name bandied back and forth between these three women he knew he'd never met but definitely had heard of him by the amazed tone they used. He heard other stray words too as all three were talking excitedly at once, hovering at a polite distance from him and Kairi but looking like it was an effort to maintain it. Fragments of questions, not for him but bounced between the three about him and Kairi. Riku and Lea's names too, as well as another mention of a van. The water girl was the first to exclaim about the dried blood. All of it should have been distracting, but the redhead could have taken out the grenade Sora had imagined earlier and it still wouldn't have torn his attention away from Kairi. 

What broke the moment was almost as forceful as a bomb, as a new player ran into the room, hardly more than a purple streak airsliding a half foot above the floor, and threw arms around Sora and Kairi both, trying to squeeze them into an awkward group hug, not feeling the obligation to hang back as Kairi's other students had. "Sora! I couldn't believe my ears when I heard Master Aqua talking to Lea and Isa in the hall! I had to come see for myself! I don't think you can know how good it is to see you! I knew you'd find your way back!"

Kairi immediately pulled herself out of the tangle somewhere during the second sentence, looking slightly flustered under a quickly applied smile that was indulgent toward the newcomer and bright turned back to him, but slightly off from what it had been before. It wasn't like her to get embarrassed. Sora cataloged it as slight difference in Kairi number eight. He was left to give the newcomer a solo hug and then take his own step away. "Rapunzel?" he marveled, genuinely confused almost to the point of wondering if he was dreaming again(He'd just dreamed this return _so many_ times), "What are you doing here?"

Rapunzel laughed. "What am I doing here? You're the one that has been missing for three years!"

"Yeah, but you're...not in Corona!" Sora waved his arms helplessly, the mandate to not disturb world order too many years ingrained to let him get more specific than that without knowing how much Rapunzel already knew.

"Isa's taking me back right now...Well, not _right_ now because he's still outside with Lea and Aqua and then he'll probably want to say hi to you, but, soon, I should be getting back, you're right. You don't need to worry. I didn't abandon my kingdom," Rapunzel babbled her way through an explanation that only confused Sora more. 

Who was Isa?

"That wasn't what I was worried about," Sora looked to Kairi for help.

"It's a long story," Kairi offered. She was wearing a soft expression and staring at him like she was trying to memorize him down to the pore before he disappeared again, previous flash of embarrassment apparently forgotten already. He understood the impulse. 

"Kairi is teaching us magic and self defense so if anyone comes to kidnap us again, we're ready to hold them off," the friendly girl that had waved at him interjected. "We all have the support of the keybarers, but they can't be on all worlds all the time."

"I wasn't 'xactly faintin' in a flower field the first time around." The redhead crossed her arms.

"Kidnapped again?" Sora repeated, not understanding. "Someone kidnapped you?" He'd heard and experienced much worse things fairly regularly, but he felt a surge of horrified concern for Rapunzel and the strangers, even hearing them speak to past tense and hypotheticals.

"These are some of the new princesses of heart," Kairi introduced the group, glossing over the kidnapping, but giving some context. "Tiana, Moana, Merida, and Rapunzel, who of course you know. Elsa and Anna aren't here today. We can't always all meet at the same time or meet that often with everyone's duties..."

"And some of us still having to sneak away," Moana interjected and Merida gave an agreeing, frustrated noise. 

"...And some still surrounded by people who do not know about other worlds, necessitating subterfuge to make sure they stay in the dark..." Kairi sounded prim when she continued and clasped her hands behind her back. She was really leaning into the teacher role. Sora shot her a scrunched nose amused look that he was sure made him look twelve not nineteen. She stuck her tongue out briefly in response, immediately sinking to his level.

"I was just talking about overbearin' parents, but the great blocky spaceships landin' in the forest scarin' the wildlife too," Merida joined the conversation, smiling when she noticed Kairi and Sora's little silent exchange, "Aren't you two cute? Kairi's told us all about yeh, her good _friend_ Sora." There was a strange emphasis on friend. 

Sora was poised to introduce himself to Merida and the rest even if it was unnecessary, defend that and Kairi were the cutest so there should be no sarcasm, or assert he hoped he was more than Kairi's friend-- even though that's what he'd called their relationship up to and including the day he left-- but he was interrupted by his name being called yet again.

"Sora!" Lea didn't dash like Rapunzel. He sauntered in, casual as ever and almost smirking, with arms held open as he strolled like he expected Sora to run to him, "I knew it was your turn to come back from the dead! I still think I did it with more style, but I'm glad to see you." He wrapped Sora in a back thumping hug when he got close, voice sounding almost misty as soon as Sora couldn't see his face."Please don't die again just to improve your entrance." 

They hadn't gotten the chance to become close friends, but saving the universe together did create tight bonds of its own, and there was a lingering feeling from the time Roxas had spent in his heart that had Sora feeling choked up all over again, viewing this too as a dear reunion. "No more sacrifices for anyone for at least another year. Let's both stay put."

As Lea drew back, Sora saw his eyes go to Kairi, eyebrows darting up and eyes widening a fraction just for a second, asking some silent, significant question. Sora would have just thought he was commenting on the unbelievable return if Kairi hadn’t pressed her lips together and shook her head. Sora pretended like he couldn’t see it for the moment. He’d ask Kairi later. 

"Oh, you have no idea, Sora," Lea drawled, a shade away from condescending but clearly joking as far as Sora could tell. “I still am way ahead on the sacrifice yourself for love tally, though we both deserve to retire for awhile.”

"That sounds like a story." This time Sora looked to Kairi and got the head shake. Part two of things to ask about later.

Sora was saved from Lea chuckling with the same incredulity Rapunzel had when he'd asked her what she was doing in the Land of Departure and turning the statement back on him (He didn't want to talk about his time with Commander Yozora. He wasn't sure where to start) by further crowd trickling its way into the room: Aqua and Terra, swinging linked hands between them, entering but hanging near the doorway like they were prepared to wait before approaching, followed by another couple, a woman with an unfamiliar face framed by long, straight black hair and a tall blue-haired man that was far too familiar even without a scar, also entering hand in hand but somber enough that it seemed like moral support. 

Kairi called for the princesses to get changed again, promising that they'd plan something soon where they would get to spend some time with Sora. Merida and Moana moved, half pushed toward the door by Tiana.  Rapunzel lingered a moment, looking like she still had a question on her mind (or several if Sora knew her at all), eyes bouncing between Kairi, Sora, and Lea in quick succession, then glancing at the approaching Saix and his friend after a few rotations. She offered an almost resigned, "I'll see you Saturday?" that was addressed to Kairi as a question, but not one she waited for an answer to before she took off as well.

Sora knew, logically, that the blue-haired man had to be Saix recompleted, and a Saix that had stayed recompleted and was a friend if he could just walk in the training room amid everyone, but Sora still felt himself stiffen as Saix came near.  Saix didn't help himself, expression and movement a little too careful and controlled to look anything but like he was mimicking human behavior. The woman by his side dropped his hand and urged him forward the last step. "I wanted to welcome you back. I feel invested as I was part of many attempts to contact you through Roxas and Xion. I should start by introducing myself, however, and then apologizing. I'm..."

"You're Isa, and you don't need to apologize for Saix" Sora interrupted and stuck out a hand for him to shake before Saix...Isa could turn even more awkward. "Rapunzel mentioned the name. It's not that many letters to unscramble Saix," he answered the inevitable question, not leaving a pause for Isa or Lea to do anything but look at him flabbergasted. "I'm not as dumb as everyone thinks." That and he was starting to remember Lea shouting the name in the Keyblade Graveyard.

Isa's mouth twitched like it wanted to smile. Sora wished he would smile. It would make him look less intimidating. "I never thought any such thing. You and Roxas have both always proven to adapt quickly and exceed expectations, even when I wouldn't admit it." Some of the tension melted from his broad shoulders, making him look more human. "I don't deserve your forgiveness so easily given, but I'd be relieved to move past the past quickly." He indicated the woman beside him. "This is my moon..."

A loud groan from Lea interrupted Isa before he could finish the introduction. "I cannot take the cheese. Do you have to do it every time?" Lea made his spine rigid and assumed a wooden expression that mocked Isa's nervous stoicism, then intoned--there was really no other word for it, far more dramatic than simple speaking--extending an arm toward Kairi, something Sora questioned for maybe half a paranoid second before he rationalized she made a convenient stand-in for Isa's girlfriend since she was standing next to him, "The stars in my sky, blood from my veins, the sea-salt ice cream that sustains life!" Kairi played her part, hand to her heart and gasping with a lovesick expression she couldn't hold without cracking and giggling.

"I'm Skuld," the woman with Isa spoke for herself and shook Sora's still extended hand Isa had overlooked. "I'm a guardian of light too. Light keybarer. Whatever you want to call us. I've heard all about our missing piece and I can't wait to get to know you. I'm sorry Isa and I are going to miss breakfast tomorrow."

"Umm, that's alright," Sora wasn't sure why they would be having breakfast there unless they lived at the Land of Departure, which he supposed they could. "It's good to meet you, Skuld. I'm Sora."

Aqua chose then to break her silence and step forward with Terra, though still not all the way. "I sent out a Code Sora through max text on my gummiphone. I'll be making calls later. You can make them with me, unless you'd rather wait to see your friends in person. It's difficult to have to send out such big news in that way, but I wanted to reach everyone as quickly as possible and let them know at the same time."

Terra took over explanations. "Anyone who can make the deadline is invited to a breakfast tomorrow. They may start arriving tonight, but breakfast tomorrow..."

Terra looked to Aqua and she resumed, "The idea was you can choose if you want to see them as they arrive or wait a night to have it to yourself and to get all the reunions over at once."

" You should get to sleep tonight," Terra paused, seeming to debate his next words, "and shower. " 

Ah, the blood. Sora kept forgetting about the blood until his stiff shirt rubbed against him the wrong way now that he wasn't injured anymore, and it said something about the lives his friends were still living that for the most part they had ignored it too. "A shower would be nice." 

"You can wear Ventus's clothes," Aqua offered, "I'm sure he won't mind if you don't mind."

"Are you going to be back for breakfast?" Sora heard Kairi ask Lea while Aqua volunteered Ventus's clothes. "I know you were going to be helping Eugene with that mess on the northern border, but I thought, maybe, you could promise him you'll swing back in a few days instead? I'd go with you."

"I'd love to see Eugene and Corona again!" Sora jumped between conversations. He and Kairi were going to be a unit this time around, the offer to go anywhere should be implied to be from both of them. 

There was a moment of silence, conspicuous but not long enough to be outright suspicious before Skuld piped up,"As long as you're at the Destiny Islands on Saturday. It's kind of important you two show up." 

Sora wondered which two she was talking to. He wanted to think himself and Kairi, but Skuld eyes seemed mostly trained on Lea.  Rapunzel had mentioned Saturday to Kairi too. Sora had assumed she was asking about the next princess of heart self-defense lesson, but apparently not. "What are we doing on Saturday?"

He meant the question to go to Kairi but Sora's answer came from Lea. "Nothing that can't be canceled or postponed."  Lea's tone was typical nonchalance, but Sora could have sworn the temperature of the room dropped a degree and there were looks exchanged between some of the room's other occupants that had Sora's list of questions to ask Kairi multiplying. " Skuld's wrong. It's not that important. We'll probably still be celebrating your return, Sora!" 

Sora got the impression he'd been verbally slapped in the face. There was bite to the declaration, despite Lea looking downright cheery and the words being friendly if you took them at face value. Lea was making fun of someone again and Sora wasn't sure if it was him, but it felt like it. Sora didn't understand where the sudden mood swing was coming from. Lea had seemed genuinely happy to see him, had sounded like he was close to crying a few minutes ago, and now, though Sora couldn't quite call him out on it, there was a rising bitterness. 

Kairi clearly felt it too. "Lea," she turned the name into a rebuke and an entreaty but Lea waved a dismissive hand lazily through the air.

"I should go get the ship warmed up. If Punz comes back in, tell her to meet me at the landing strip." He was already starting to walk away as he said the words. Nobody tried to stop him though Isa was staring him down like he could freeze him through disapproval alone. "I'll make it for breakfast." The last tacked on phrase almost sounded apologetic.

Sora's "See you then!" that showed no ill will for whatever that was ended up being much louder than Kairi's almost muttered, wistfully sad to the point Sora added asking about it to his questions, "Bye then." The others didn't bother with goodbyes.

"We should be going too," Isa asserted evenly, disapproving face wiped blank. "We'll be in New Mushroomton after we drop Tiana off at the Jamming Bayou. We'll keep in touch." Goodbyes were exchanged and Skuld reiterated that it was great to meet Sora and they'd see everyone Saturday.

When it was just Sora, Kairi, Aqua and Terra, Aqua cleared her throat and redirected conversation to Sora getting to clean up. "Kairi, you know where Ventus's room is, don't you? It shouldn't be locked but if it is, Chirithy will let you in. There are quite a few spare bedrooms. Only Terra, Ventus, and I live here full time, and our two students who you'll meet tomorrow if you're up to it, but we have a lot of reoccurring visitors and we plan for it. Top floor should be completely empty if you want to take your usual room, Kairi and Sora, you can have the one across the hall. It has a bathroom attached. I'll help Terra with dinner. You can come down after your shower, Sora, or let Kairi know and someone will bring a tray up." 

The way she kept offering him space might not have made sense to anyone but Sora and her, (Why wouldn't he want to be around old friends after so long away?) but Sora nodded appreciatively, not giving an answer yet, but grateful for the choice, almost prompted to apologize to Aqua about how soon after she came out of the realm of darkness and Ventus was woken up that they were both pulled into planning meetings for the battle at the Keyblade Graveyard without a chance to adjust, even if those had been different times. Even miracles needed to be processed even if it seemed odd to retreat when you'd spent so long waiting to come back. 

"Lead the way." Sora reached for Kairi's hand.

"S..Sure," Kairi was back to embarrassed, casting a split second glance at Aqua, before covering with a smile to Sora. 

He tallied off another question for the list. His gut said he could answer a few of these questions for himself if he really thought about it, but his brain might be actively trying not to make theories. The only ones he could have seemed too wild to entertain anyway. 


End file.
